A business owned by Ngati Manipoto Iwi has shelved its annual catch entitlement for long-finned freshwater eel.
Tuna - or long-finned freshwater eel - is a taonga to Maori - and is under threat.
Te Kupenga o Maniapoto holds and manages the Maniapoto settlement fish quota and income shares from Aotearoa Fisheries Limited.
In its annual report, the business says it did not sell long-finned freshwater eel last year despite having an entitlement to do so.
This was due to concerns from the Mokau ki Runga Regional Management committee about the decline of the eel's population.
Last year the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended the commercial catch be suspended to prevent its extinction.
Te Kupenga says the decision has been extended and it will not sell the eel this year.
Despite the cut Te Kupenga made a profit of almost three-quarters of a million dollars last year.